Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, A
| running time = 87 min. | country = USA | language = English | budget = $2,200,000 | gross revenue = $29,999,213 | preceded by = A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) | followed by = A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) }} A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge is a 1985 horror film directed by Jack Sholder. It is the second film in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and was released theatrically in the United States on November 1st, 1985. This film introduces the Walsh family, who take up residence at 1428 Elm Street, the suburban Springwood home previously occupied by Nancy Thompson. Teenager Jesse Walsh finds himself the victim of the notorious dream demon Freddy Krueger, who wants to use Jesse as his mortal vessel, so that he can manifest physically in the real world. The film is notable for adding to the dynamic of the Krueger character in his efforts to physically dominate Jesse Walsh as well as the homoerotic undercurrent displayed throughout the movie. Nightmare series creator Wes Craven refused to work on this film because he never wanted or intended A Nightmare on Elm Street to become an ongoing franchise, and also because the movie changed the premise of the first film with Freddy deciding to attack people in the waking world, rather than avoiding this in favor of killing people in their dreams. Plot It is five years after the first Nightmare and the Walsh family moves in to 1428 Elm Street, the house once owned by the Thompson family. The air conditioning doesn't work and the agonizing heat plays havoc with teenage Jesse Walsh's dreams. His first night in Nancy Thompson's old bedroom, Jesse has a nightmare in which his school bus is hijacked by a hideously deformed madman wearing a red and green sweater with a set of razor claws. The following day he gives his potential girlfriend Lisa Webber a ride to school. During gym class, Jesse gets into a fight with the local jock Ron Grady. The two aren't really enemies however, and they spend a lot of time bonding as Coach Schneider puts them through their paces. We also meet Lisa's best friend Kerry, who constantly inquires as to whether or not Lisa is sleeping with Jesse. Before long, Jesse and Lisa find the diary of Nancy Thompson. Its contents describe not only her relationship with Glen Lantz, but it goes into detail concerning her dreams of Freddy Krueger. That night, Jesse begins having even more intense nightmares. Krueger addresses him and declares that he needs Jesse to become his extension to the outside world. He hoarsely whispers in Jesse’s ear, "Kill for me." In the days to come, Jesse's behavior becomes more erratic and he cannot shirk the influence of Krueger's persona from his person. On one particular evening, he goes down to the Springwood High gymnasium to vent his frustrations on Coach Schneider. Unwittingly tapping into the powers of Freddy Krueger, Jesse assaults Schneider with a barrage of sporting equipment. He then straps Schneider's naked body to the shower wall and begins snapping his back side with a wet towel. Finally Freddy's claws rake down Schneider's back, finishing him off. Jesse is found wandering the streets naked and the police take him home to his parents. His father, Ken Walsh instantly thinks that his son is on drugs. The following day, Lisa takes Jesse down to the boiler room of the power plant where Freddy used to work. It is her belief that Jesse might pick up some kind of psychometric reading from the place. This fails however and the two return home. More bizarre things begin occurring in the Walsh home that no one can explain. The air conditioning continues to fail, parakeets explode and an unplugged toaster catches fire. Freddy exorcises his influence over Jesse once again, and it takes all of the young man's resolve to keep from murdering his sleeping sister inside of her own bed. A few nights later, Linda hosts a big pool party. The Webbers have a large back yard and many kids from Springwood High come over for water games and hot dogs. The Webbers finally decide to go to bed leaving Lisa in charge of the party. Lisa tries to calm Jesse down and the two begin to make love. Jesse freaks out when he notices his tongue turn into a long black Freddy tongue that begins licking at Lisa's cleavage. Leaving the party early, he seeks out his pseudo-pal, Grady. He begs Grady to let him stay over his house and asks him to wake him up if he starts to act strangely. Grady reluctantly agrees and Jesse falls asleep. Grady however, had no intention of staying awake and only said as much to humor Jesse. In Grady's dream, Freddy appears inside of the bedroom. The door is locked and Grady is trapped. Jesse is nowhere to be found. Freddy pins him to the bedroom door and impales all four of his claws through Grady's chest. Jesse wakes up to find Grady dead. He breaks out of the house to race back to Lisa's house. Jesse is covered in blood and he explains to Lisa that he is responsible for the deaths of Schneider and Grady. With so many young potential victims floating around, Freddy takes complete control of Jesse's body. Freddy bursts into the back yard and begins hacking away at the revelers. He brings the water in the pool to a boil forcing the teens out of the pool. Everyone is running rampant in an attempt to escape. Mister Webber comes downstairs with a shotgun, but this proves ineffective against Krueger. Happy with the carnage he is wreaking, Freddy leaves the scene. Lisa knows where he's going however. She tracks Freddy down to his old boiler room and from there uses her love for Jesse to coax Freddy’s influence out of the boy. Jesse's persona dominates Krueger's body and he literally rips his way out from under Freddy's skin. Freddy's remains dissolve into muck and Jesse is now free of his control. Cast Notes & Trivia * Production on A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge began on June 26th, 1985. Principal photography on the movie concluded in August, 1985. The movie was shot on location Los Angeles, California. * Scenes of 1428 Elm Street (the Walsh home) were filmed at 1428 North Genessee Avenue in Hollywood, California. * Scenes of Springwood High School were shot at Charles Evans Hughs, Jr. High School in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. * A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge was released to DVD by New Line Home Video on August 22nd, 2000. It has also been included in the New Line Platinum Series A Nightmare on Elm Street 6-disc box set collection. It is also included on the A Nightmare on Elm Street Collection 7-disc Blu-ray boxset collection, which was released by Warner Home Video on March 5th, 2013. * This film establishes that five years worth of time takes place between this movie and the first A Nightmare on Elm Street. * It is common knowledge that Wes Craven, director of the first A Nightmare on Elm Street, was no impressed with the idea of continuing the franchise. He has stated that he did not like the idea of Freddy Krueger manipulating the protagonist into committing murders. Craven made a tongue-in-cheek reference to his displeasure with the sequels through the character of Casey Becker in the opening scenes from his 1996 film Scream. In the scene, the Ghostface killer calls Casey Becker and they talk about horror movies. References the franchise, Ghostface says, "I like that movie. It was scary.", to which Casey responds, "Well, the first one was, but the rest sucked." * Actor Mark Patton originally auditioned for the role Glen Lantz in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. The part ended up going to Johnny Depp in his first film role. Depp would later go on to become a major Hollywood star. Ironically, Patton landed the role of Jesse Walsh over several other young actors, all of whom would go on to become famous actors, including Brad Pitt, John Stamos and Christian Slater. One of the reasons that Patton was cast was because he was an out homosexual and writer David Chaskin was deliberately scripting the film with a heavy homoerotic undercurrent. Hollywood Monster; Attidtude.comNever Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy * In addition to playing Freddy Krueger, Robert Englund also plays the human bus driver at the beginning of the film. * The music in this film is distinctive for two reasons. First, it is the only film in the franchise that does not use some variation of the trademark theme music as first composed by Charles Bernstein in the first Nightmare. Secondly, the score from this film is reminiscent of the music from the 1987 film Hellraiser. Both films were scored by Christopher Young. * The tagline for this film is, "The first name in terror returns...". * In this film, the front door to 1428 Elm Street is painted red. In the first film it was painted blue. * Producer Robert Shaye makes a cameo appearance as a bartender at Don's Place. * This is the first film work for executive producer Stephen Diener. He is also an executive producer on A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. * This is the first, and to date, only known film work actress Kimberly Lynn, who plays Patty. Following A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, Kimberly's only credited acting work was the "Just a Regular Kid: An AIDS Story" on ABC Afterschool Specials in 1987. * Actress JoAnn Willette is best known for playing Connie Lubbock on the 1988-1990 comedy Just the Ten of Us. Another series regular on that show was Heather Langenkamp, who also played Nancy Thompson as well as a fictionalized version of herself in A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and Wes Craven's New Nightmare. * This is the first film work for actress Christie Clark. She is also known for playing Lacey Hellerstat in Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice in 1992. See also External Links * * * A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge at Wikipedia * * * * A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge at the Elm Street Wiki * A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge at the Horror Film Wiki References ---- Category:Films Category:1985 films Category:2nd installments Category:Films with plot summaries Category:New Line Cinema Category:Media Home Entertainment Category:Smart Egg Pictures Category:Horror Film List Category:Stephen Diener